1001 by Jason Grote

The cuckolded King Shahriyar is marrying a new bride every night and beheading her the next morning. As unrest spreads in the Sultanate, his vizier's daughter Scheherazade hatches a plan: she will offer herself as a bride and seduce the king with stories that leave him hanging on every word. She weaves such tales as "Sinbad the Sailor" and "Aladdin and His Magic Lamp" with stories of Borges, Flaubert, and Alan and Dahna -- a Jewish man and an Arab woman who have fallen in love in millennial New York City. Shahriyar becomes Alan and Scheherazade becomes Dahna as the worlds mingle and inform one another. Modern speech invades the fantasy tales, and swords and genii appear in the 21st Century, in a dance of cultures and people who are forever intertwined.

Characters:

• SCHEHERAZADE/DAHNA
• SHAHRIYAR/ALAN
• THE ONE-EYED ARAB
• JUML'S MASTER
• MOSTAFA
• A SLAVE
• SINDBAD
• VOICE OF ALAN DERSHOWITZ
• DJINN
• THE VIRGIN BRIDE
• DUNYAZADE
• THE PRINCESS MARIDAH
• JUML
• KUCHUK HANEM
• LUBNA
• JORGE LUIS BORGES
• THE EMIR GHASSAN
• THE HORRIBLE MONSTER
• OSAMA BIN LADEN
• WAZIR
• YAHYA AL-HUSAYNI
• ASSER
• GUSTAVE FLAUBERT
• THE ORTHODOX JEWISH STUDENT
• VOICE OF MODERATOR
• A EUNUCH

Many of these roles can be combined - normally there are only 6 actors. We can choose to the two main characters played by a single actor or we can split them.

The script will be displayed during the reading. If you would like to dibs a character, please do so in the comments below. If you are not able to attend the day of, please change your RSVP. Two no shows will result in being asked to leave the group.